1.3 Rainy Blue Sky Breakthrough by Rachel Brask oil on canvas 30x40 inches

How many times do we look to the sky on a gray day and count our blessings? Many take a gray rainy day as an expression of doom, gloom and sadness. How much more often do the gray days coexist with patches of clear blue sky? In this painting, I aim to express the contrast of the beautiful and warm fall foliage colors with the gray storm that appears to be rolling in, or rolling out, depending on how you view the artwork. Over the horizon is a section of blue sky. But if you look even more closely at the top left of the painting, you'll see there's a breakthrough patch of blue sky in the midst of the gray, a little reminder that we can find that breakthrough when we look hard enough for it; or it has a way of finding us when we're least expecting it. All this uses rain and oil paint as the abstraction of time, material and metaphor.

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The painting is inspired by the view of a beautiful autumn day in by a pond, the brilliant fall foliage reflected in the water, while the sky above is hovering between a blue sky day and a gray storm rolling either in or out. Imagine all this viewed through the lense of a window when it’s pouring rain, and you get this imagery.

This original oil painting is painted on all outer edges of a 1.5 inch profile canvas, signed by artist Rachel Brask, and is available for purchase. Painting comes with hanging wire affixed to back of canvas. This original hand-painted canvas also contains a uniquely textured surface where some of the "rain drips" dried in place.